Technology

Scientists in Israel have reportedly demonstrated that it is possible to fabricate DNA evidence and undermine the credibility of what was once considered the gold standard of proof in criminal cases. The scientists were able to fabricate blood and ... saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could easily construct a sample to match that profile without having to obtain any tissue from that person. Crime Scenes Can be Easily Engineered According to Dan Frumkin, lead author of the study, any ... (view more)

How smart is your pooch? Many of us have often wondered how Rover, Rex, or Cocoa interpreted and understood the wider world around them. Now, a recent psychological study has pinpointed just how smart our dogs are, and the results are surprising. ... The report was part of a presentation called "How Dogs Think," staged in front of a Toronto crowd this past weekend. The presenter: University of British Columbia emeritus professor of psychology Stanley Coren, perhaps the leading expert in the examination of dog intelligence. Canines Think Like Toddlers Coren's finding: that the best way to study ... (view more)

Imagine scanning the pages of a new cookbook and finding a recipe for an appetizing dish. You take note of the preparation time and ingredient blend, questioning whether the finished product will be worth all of the hassle. If only there was some ... way to ensure that you could sample a taste of the dish before taking the time to prepare it. As strange as it may sound, a new hi-tech cookbook is attracting worldwide attention for its amazing ability to allow would-be chefs the chance to sample the same dishes seen in the illustrations of the book. Print, Sample a Taste using Flavor Cartridges ... (view more)

In computer security, a sandbox is a security mechanism for separating running programs. It is often used to execute untested code, or untrusted programs from unverified third-parties, suppliers and untrusted users. A sandbox in computing terms ... (also referred to as "sandboxing") provides a tightly-controlled set of resources for guest programs to run in, such as 'temporary' space on disk and memory. In such a scenario, network access and the ability to inspect the host system or read from input devices are disallowed or heavily restricted. In this sense, sandboxes are a specific example of ... (view more)

The agency in charge of U.S. road safety kept secret hundreds of pages of data about the dangers of using cellphones while driving. The former head of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says he feared publishing the details could ... jeopardize Congressional funding. Dr. Jeffrey Runge says the data was so compelling that he wanted to write to all of the country's state governors and warn them of the dangers. He also wanted to publish the data, including a July 2003 memo concluding with the advice that "drivers not use wireless communication devices, including text messaging ... (view more)

Cross-site scripting (XSS) is a type of computer security vulnerability typically found in web applications which allow code injection by malicious web users into the web pages viewed by other users. XSS: Background The expression "cross-site ... scripting" originated from the fact that a malicious web site could load another web site into another frame or window then use Javascript to read or write data on the other web site. The definition gradually changed to mean the injection of HTML and Javascript into a web page. Example of a Cross-site Scripting Attack Examples of an XSS code include ... (view more)

A new prototype designed especially for women will ensure that phone calls are never missed again, while making one look highly fashionable in the process. The product is actually a sleek dress engineered to light up every time the wearer's mobile ... phone rings. Whenever I'm supposed to meet up with a group of friends at a sports bar or restaurant, I always cringe when I hear one of them utter the inevitable phrase "Just give me a call on my cell and we'll set up a place to meet." I've come to learn that this translates into "You're pretty much on your own, since I'll never be ... (view more)

Click fraud is a type of Internet crime that occurs in pay per click online advertising. How Click Fraud Works A person or automated computer program imitates a legitimate user clicking on an ad online a web site. The ad is clicked for the purpose ... of generating a charge (per click) to the advertiser. Click Fraud with respect to PPC Advertising Pay per click (PPC) advertising is an arrangement in which web sites ("publishers") display clickable ads from an advertising network in exchange for revenue earned for each ad clicked. Each time a (believed to be) valid user clicks on an ad, ... (view more)

In a strange turn of events, Canadian geese have been pinpointed as the cause of US Airways' Flight 1549 crash into the Hudson River on January 15, 2009. According to reports, a flock of birds collided with the airbus shortly after take off. An ... investigation into the crash has been underway for months. Leading the charge are researchers from the Smithsonian Institution, who sent samples of bird feathers found on the plane to the Feather Identification Laboratory at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History. (Source: latimes.com ) Planes Present Real Threat to Bird Populations ... (view more)

Patch Tuesday is the second Tuesday of each month, the day on which Microsoft releases security patches. Windows Updates Starting with Windows 98, Microsoft included Windows Update: a system that automatically checks for security patches and fixes ... for MS Windows, MS Office, and other Microsoft products, and notifies the user of such updates. Automatic Updates vs Windows Updates The idea of Windows Update system suffered from two primary issues. On one hand, less experienced users were not aware of updates, and would not run them -- leaving their system vulnerable to exploits. Microsoft's ... (view more)